Newest Contact
by Nanoswarm1
Summary: It was supposed to be a routine mission for Tagon's Toughs. Then it all fell apart. Schlock Mercenary Star Trek xover
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Schlock Mercenary and all related material is the property of Howard Taylor. Star Trek and all related material is the property of Paramount Pictures Inc. The plot, however, is mine. I will not make any material profit from this endeavor.

The mercenary company Tagon's Toughs, aboard the warship Touch-and-Go, was fleeing after a successful operation. The problem was that, for mercenaries, successful operations often incurred the wrath of local authorities. Such was the case in this instance. These chases were never pleasant, but there was always a chance of escape. All the fleeing ship had to do was evade capture and destruction until it reached the edge of the system's teraport interdiction zone, at which point a rapid series of random teraports rendered tracking impossible. From there it was just a matter of avoiding the system until things died down. Unfortunately, up to the point of exiting the interdicted area, the ship was open game.

Captain Tagon, leader of the company, was worried. They had had the element of surprise, but the cops had been quick to mobilize, and were now shooting at his ship. The ship shuddered, but before he could speak, Ennesby, the maraca-shaped AI floating nearby, reported.

"Sorry, Captain, but part of that last shot got through the shields. We've sustained moderate damage but the engines are fine."

"What's our ETA?" demanded Tagon.

"Just a couple minutes," replied Ennesby, "but TAG is damaged. He went offline to prevent data corruption."

"WHAT!?" Tagon exclaimed, and with good reason, for TAG was the AI that took care of ship operations like flight and weapons "How are we still moving?"

"I've linked my systems remotely with the ship's. I'm flying us now. We'll repair TAG when we fix everything else."

He paused, but before he could speak again, Kevyn Andreyasn, the Munitions Commander and resident mad scientist, burst onto the bridge.

"Captain, they're moving too fast!" he cried, referring to the pursuing vessels.

"I assume you have a plan." replied Tagon. It was not a question.

"Well, yes, but you won't like it." Kevyn answered, then proceeded to outline his plan.

"You were right. I don't like it, but I don't see any other choice. Do it." was the response.

Kevyn activated the code he had written before coming onto the bridge, and several things happened simultaneously. Half the ship's terapedos came online to provide additional acceleration. Another third activated and used their gravitic fields to act as inertial dampening fields, shielding the crew from getting crushed. The remainder of the terapedos launched. Silent commands went out to the powered armor worn by the crew, ordering each suit to power up, seal into an airtight, bulletproof space-capable suit, and activate inertial shields. Uninhabited sections of the ship decreased the acceleration shielding present there, shunting the energy into engines and additional counter-inertia fields.

From the perspective of the pursuing police, the ship's acceleration suddenly increased drastically. Their surprise was compounded when terapedos shot out of the shields and detonated. These missiles, however, were not intended to kill, but rather to propel. Following Newtonian physics, the expanding cloud of plasma and light slammed into the shields of the Touch-and-Go, adding to its velocity. Milliseconds later, the energy struck the incoming police vessels, momentarily slowing them.

The Touch-and-Go began vibrating rapidly, the tremendous inertial differences straining the ship to the limit. Just before it seemed to Tagon that the ship would rattle itself apart, it shot out of the interdiction zone and teraported away.

The Touch-and-Go began vibrating rapidly, the tremendous inertial differences straining the ship to the limit. Just before it seemed to Tagon that the ship would rattle itself apart, it shot out of the interdiction zone and teraported away.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Schlock Mercenary and all related material is the property of Howard Taylor. Star Trek and all related material is the property of Paramount Pictures Inc. The plot, however, is mine. I will not make any material profit from this endeavor.

The Touch-and-Go teraported to a random location once…twice…three times. Though chains of random teraports were far less efficient than one single hop, they were far tougher to track, making them ideal for fleeing fugitives. Of course, with any random jump there was a small chance of something dangerous happening, like appearing inside a black hole, or near a hostile, technologically advanced civilization, but the odds of that happening were so small as to be almost nonexistent. Almost.

Surprise, rapidly followed by fear, flitted across Ennesby's face as he accessed and analyzed sensor data faster than human thought.

"Captain, we've got a problem." He announced.

Tagon was unsurprised. "You already told me about our damage, and Kevyn mentioned the damage the sort of high acceleration we just pulled would do."

"No sir. While that's a problem, this is a bigger one." On the word "this" Ennesby pulled up an image of the space outside the ship. A blue-white vortex of energy spiraled slowly toward a brilliant point of light dead ahead of the warship. Far behind, Tagon saw a tiny black dot that seemed to be emitting the energy, but as he watched, it vanished.

"Where are we, and what am I looking at here?" he said.

Kevyn, hunched over a terminal, spoke up, "I don't know where we are, that last 'port must have taken us in here, but that's not just a pretty light show, sir. That's what we're getting on visual, but look at the structure of space in the area." He paused for a moment, considering, and then said "On second thought, never mind, I'll just explain, you wouldn't understand it. There seem to be a number of minor gravity distortions, effectively acting as a teraport interdiction field. There's also a major gravity well drawing us there." He pointed to the bright point of light.

"Can we escape? Or call for help?" Tagon asked.

"No sir, that mad rush back there reduced our engine strength to around 58 percent strength, and our hypercom will be jammed by the same space-time effects that keep us from teraporting." cut in Ennesby "Wait…this is interesting. According to my latest readings, our gravitics are creating the space-time ripples that are blocking our teraports. That's why we teraported in fine, but we can't leave"

"Whatever that means" muttered Tagon, then, louder "Okay, so what are my options? You two are the smartest people on the ship."

"Well, sir, we could just wait." said Kevyn "according to these readings, we're in no danger from the gravity well, and that anomaly absorbing the energy doesn't actually seem to be destructive. We probably want to start repairs, though." Seeing his captain's confused look, he hastened to add "these readings are more consistent with a large wormhole than anything else, though there are abnormalities. I don't know where we'll end up, and I doubt the transit will kill us, but we want to be ready in case someone wants to blow us into vapor."

The Captain nodded at his friend's prudence, then turned to Ennesby.

"What sort of systems damage do we have? How long will it take to fix?"

"We haven't got anything that's fully functional except the teraport, sir, but nothing's truly beyond repair. Our fabber is heavily damaged, though, so that'll take longer to fix. I suggest we start with that, and then go on to shields, weapons, and engines, and then everything else. One other thing, sir. We still have 5/6ths of our terapedoes, but their gravitics are totally burned out. They still have teraport capability, and the synthetic intelligences and warheads still work fine, but they'll be useless in an interdiction field."

"Damn" cursed Tagon softly "How long?"

"About twenty hours for the fabber, then another fourteen for the shields, sixteen for the weapons, and eight for the engines. That's my lowest estimate for the current situation, though if we had access to raw materials, or, even better, a shipyard of some sort, it would go faster."

"And how long until we hit the wormhole's mouth, Kevyn?"

"Three hours, maybe less."

"Okay. Ennesby, get started on the repairs. Use whatever you need: manpower, spare parts, whatever, you've got it. Kevyn, help him out. I want to be as ready as possible for whatever we face when we get out of this thing."

"And what will you be doing?" asked Kevyn, as Ennesby floated to an input/output port to begin repairs.

"Me? I'll be meeting with the troops, encouraging them, keeping spirits up, that sort of thing." responded Tagon wearily "unless of course, you need my help."

Two hours later, Kaff Tagon was bored. He had seen to it that the grunts understood the situation as well as he did, ordered them to stay out of the way of repairs unless they were needed, and then retreated to his quarters. He had done his best to raise their morale, but the truth was, he admitted to himself, his own morale was rather low. He had understood the general idea of what Ennesby and Kevyn had been trying to tell him, but the technical data had gone right over his head. He didn't really mind that too much- he had already known that each of them was far smarter than he would ever be- but he wished he at least know what sort of problems they would face once they passed through the vortex. Suddenly, he heard the loud klaxon of the shipwide alarm, followed by Kevyn's voice over the intraship comm system.

"Captain to the bridge" it said, "we are approaching the anomaly."

Tagon's head snapped up as the message penetrated into his brain, then he shot to his feet and rushed outside, only to find his progress blocked by a pair of fabbys carrying a large sheet of metal.

"Forget this" he muttered, and powered up his armor. Using its built-in flight systems, he rose above the trundling robots and shot towards the bridge. Dropping to the ground and landing smoothly on his feet, he powered down his armor and stepped through the entrance. "Status report!" he called out.

Ennesby's voice came out of a speaker built into Tagon's chair as he sat down.

"The rate of acceleration has increased slightly." The AI's voice was calm, but Tagon was sure he heard a small, well-hidden note of fear in that smooth voice. "We'll be going through in less than two minutes."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Schlock Mercenary and all related material is the property of Howard Taylor. Star Trek and all related material is the property of Paramount Pictures Inc. The plot, however, is mine.

The USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F hung in space over the gaping maw of the anomaly, as it had been for two weeks.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard leaned back in his chair, musing on the circumstances that had led to this situation. He knew that Starfleet Command considered spacetime anomalies a high priority for research, and that his ship had been the closest vessel, but he was mildly annoyed at having spent so long this close. Though he was in command of a brand new ship, drastically improved in every way from the Enterprise E, he had seen too many of these swirling blue-white vortexes of energy to feel comfortable around them. They had almost invariably done something unpleasant to his ship or his crew. Not, he thought, that this crew was unused to this. He knew them well, having served with all of them for many years, and knew that they would take it in stride, but he still didn't like putting them in danger.

Suddenly, a gruff voice cut through his reverie.

"Captain. I'm picking up a number of transwarp signatures. Estimated time of arrival is in 20 minutes."

Picard started, his mind suddenly racing. Transwarp meant Borg. If there was any single species that Picard hated, it was the Borg. They were faster even than his new ship, but Starfleet engineers had assured him that he would be able to defeat a few Borg Cubes.

"Shields up! Go to red alert!" he ordered, knowing that if the Borg were mounting a true invasion of Federation space, that he had to stop them now.

Suddenly, his combadge chirped - it was from Data. He and Geordi had been poring over the sensor readings on the anomaly for the past two weeks, and they called him now!?

His irritation increased when he heard Data's calm, emotionless report.

"Sir, based on these readings, the anomaly is beginning to collapse."

Picard replied quickly, knowing that he needed Data on the bridge to fight the Borg.

"Fascinating, Mr. Data, but Mr. Worf has just detected Borg ships incoming, and we need your skills at the helm." Picard knew that, although Data had been damaged in the Romulan incident a few months back, he had been almost completely repaired. The only thing that had been unsalvageable was his emotion chip, but that wasn't necessary in battle.

"Yes, Captain, I shall be there momentarily." Seconds later, he walked off the turbolift, putting away his PADD as he went. Picard nodded, realizing that he must have heard the red alert and reported as he made his way to the bridge.

As he sat down, he mentioned something that surprised everyone present.

"If we are to be facing the Borg, perhaps we should activate Battle Mode Theta Epsilon Alpha?"

Picard had no idea what Data was talking about, and, looking at everyone else present, he realized that he wasn't alone. However, Data noticed the confusion and explained.

"Battle Mode Theta Epsilon Alpha is a program designed specifically to fight the Borg. It will control the ship's systems while in battle, reacting far faster than any organic being could hope to. It was part of our latest software upgrade."

Picard understood now. He recalled reading something about an anti-Borg program in the database, but it had slipped his mind.

"Do it, Mr. Data. We need to maximize our chances of victory."

Data nodded and set to work, and, shortly, the computer announced "Battle mode program initiated. All systems ready for combat."

This came not a moment too soon, as the Borg ships began dropping out of subspace seconds afterward. Picard's jaw dropped as he saw the size of the Borg fleet. There were at least forty Cubes, and another ten or fifteen smaller craft. This was no raid on a Federation colony world, it was an invasion. The pseudosentient program controlling the ship did not share Picards awe at the sight, and immediately began firing. The ship shuddered and heaved as volley after volley impacted the shields, but Picard realized that his ship was still intact and fighting fiercely. One of the Cubes exploded as the Enterprise's phasers and quantum torpedoes ripped through its shields and struch something vital. Despite this small victory, Picard knew that, without a miracle, his ship would be lost. He was vastly outnumbered, and the Borg shields were already adapting to the phaser modulation. The ship fought on, cycling modulation rapidly, and Picard saw another Cube blasted apart, but he realized that his ship was doomed.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Schlock Mercenary and all related material is the property of Howard Taylor. Star Trek and all related material is the property of Paramount Pictures Inc. The plot, however, is mine.

Data's calm voice cut through Picard's panic, as he reported.  
"Sir, the anomaly has just collapsed. There is a vessel where it used to be."  
Picard looked at Worf, who, anticipating the order, said, "The ship is of unknown type, moderately damaged, and …" He trailed off.  
At that moment, the ship stopped bucking and shuddering.  
"Well, what is it, Mr. Worf?"  
"The power levels I was reading from the unknown vessel were several orders of magnitude greater than any known ship is capable of producing. Also, the life-signs I detected were varied, but there were several humans on board. I also did not detect a warp drive, though I could not scan the whole ship."  
"Curiouser and curiouser" murmured Picard. "Why couldn't you scan the whole ship? More importantly, why have the Borg stopped attacking us?"  
"The Borg have ceased attacking us and are now attacking the newcomer. The unknown ship has raised some sort of gravity shield that is preventing both the Borg weaponry and our own sensors from penetrating. However, it appears to lack the ability to block transporter beams."

The Touch-and-Go emerged from the vortex into a scene of pandemonium. Numerous cube-shaped vessels and several smaller, more irregular craft were attacking a single sleek white ship. As Tagon watched, however, the cubes and their attendant craft ceased firing, turned, and assulted the Touch-and-Go. Ennesby slammed up the shields and turned to the Captain, who was already starting to look confused.  
"Ennesby, what's going on?" Tagon asked.  
"Well, to put it in terms that you can understand, we came out of the swirly vortex thingy, appeared here, and got attacked"  
"I know that, Ennesby, I meant specifics," said Tagon, irritated at the flying maraca's attitude  
"Oh, you mean like why they attacked?"  
"Yes, exactly."  
"No idea. I do have some good news, though. First off, with the info I got while our shields were down, they're using some kind of electromagnetic shields, far inferior to our own gravitics. Secondly, they seem to be relatively limited in terms of weapons frequency capability, so I can modify the shields to only block their weapons, so I can still scan them. Additionally, their weapons appear to be pretty weak. We should have no trouble surviving them. And-"  
He was cut off by a soft whine. Tagon whirled around, looking for the source, and spotted a number of humanoid shapes materializing. He tensed, activated his armor, and drew his pistols.  
Once these invaders appeared fully, Tagon instantly realized that they were heavily, cybernetically modified, given the assorted tubes, implants, and devices he saw protruding directly from their skin. On top of that, they seemed to have some sort of armor, though it didn't look very tough. The intruders all spoke simultaneously, but all said the same thing, with the same timing and inflection, something that really creeped Tagon out.  
"We are the Borg. Resistance is futile. Prepare to be assimilated."  
Tagon couldn't remember what assimilated meant, but it sounded bad, and he understood that the part about resistance being futile meant that these things were hostile.  
They were also slow, especially compared to the soldier-boosted veteran mercenary. The Captain pointed his gauss pistol at the advancing drones, and blazed away. The last of the monstrosities was dead before the first finished falling.  
"Not so futile after all. Ennesby, what the hell happened? How did they get through the teraport interdiction fields?"  
"They didn't teraport in. They used some unknown kind of short-range teleportation, which neither our shields nor our interdiction fields can block. I think if they do it a few more times, I'll be able to modify the shields to stop it. Huh, well what do you know?"  
Tagon didn't like the sound of that last sentence, but before he could say anything, Ennesby explained.  
"They're trying it again, but not here this time. I'm detecting numerous intrusions throughout the ship. I'll stop the ones in uninhabited areas, but the crew seems like they're dealing with the intrusions fine."

Sergeant Schlock was relaxing in his bathtub when he heard the whine. He knew that the ship was in some kind of space-time thingy he didn't understand, but, as he had been told, there wan't anything he could do about it. However, when he saw the thing appear in a glow of green light and try to attack him, he decided there was something he could do about this. Pulling his plasma cannon from his mouth, he primed it and pointed it at the intruder.  
"I don't know how you got in here, but if you don't get out now, you'll be dead"  
Ignoring both the verbal threat and the glowing, humming plasgun backing it up, the Borg advanced, until a lethal stream of plasma slammed into it. The drone's shield flared, but quickly failed beneath the onslaught, as the Borg drone was turned into molten metal and carbonized ash.

Nick and Shep were watching cartoons in the lounge, when they heard the hum of the Borg transporting in. Both turned to watch, and heard the pair of drones intonation.  
"We are the Borg. Resistance is futile. Prepare to be assimilated."  
Confused, the two turned to each other.  
Nick asked "Wudda'ya think dat means?"  
Shep responded that he didn't know, but that it didn't sound friendly.  
Nick agreed, adding that they didn't look like very nice people, and they probably shouldn't be aboard in the first place.  
That agreed upon, the two men decided to teach the "not very nice people" that it isn't very nice to come onto other people's ships without an invitation, and proceeded to power up their armor. The Borg, having had very little experience with powered armor, and nothing like that worn as a standard uniform by the Toughs, attempted to fight back, but Nick and Shep were tremendously strong and tough even before the soldier-boosts and powered armor were factored in. Disregarding their guns, the two massive soldiers attacked with fists and feet. Nick punched one drone in the face, and the sheer force behind the blow turned the metal-reinforced skull into jelly, an instantly lethal blow that sent the drone flying into the back wall. Shep grabbed the other drone's outstretched assimilation arm, spun, and pitched at the drone Nick had already dispensed with. The second drone hit so hard it crushed the ribs of both and shattered its reinforced spine.

All across the ship, drones materialized, and those that appeared near crew members were quickly dispatched, by both firearms and physical assult. The drones that appeared in uninhabited areas were eliminated by Ennesby, who simply increased local gravity until the Borg were crushed under their own weight.

On the bridge, Ennesby informed his captain that the shields had been modified to prevent further intrusions, and that he had traced them as definitely coming from the ships attacking them. He also noted the presence of the white vessel firing upon their attackers, though the damage that ship was doing was decreasing as the more numerous forces adapted their shields.

Picard was growing frustrated. Though the Battle Mode program was functioning perfectly, and his ship was no longer under attack, he saw the lessening of the damage his ship was doing. To add to his irritation, the ship the Borg were focusing on seemed to be ignoring the Borg.  
In the silence, Worf spoke up "Sir, more transwarp signatures inbound"  
Picard was astonished. _More_ ships? He knew the Borg had ships to spare, but this many to attack one group was already an incredible number, and the Borg were sending _more?!_  
Suddenly a trio of Cubes exploded. Everyone knew that Borg ships didn't just explode, but there had been no visible weapons fire.  
Riker stated the most obvious conclusion "They must be using some sort of weapon that we can't see."  
Data rapidly analyzed the relevant sensor logs, and discovered powerful gravity disturbances emanating from the unknown ship and lancing into the Cubes nanoseconds before they exploded. Quickly modifying some code, he programmed the computer to show intense, focused gravity distortions as orange cones.  
"We should be able to see them now" he reported, and just in time. Cones sprang from the unknown vessel once more, and, completely bypassing shields, slammed into a quartet of the smaller Borg ships, destroying them instantly.

Ennesby was controlling the ship's battle maneuvers as crewmen rushed to their stations when an evil grin spread across his face.  
Kevyn was the first to notice, and asked the AI what was happening.  
"They don't have interdiction fields" was the only answer, but Kevyn instantly understood. Tagon was a little slower.  
"So what if they don't have interdiction fields? Kevyn told me that the terapedo engines were burnt out."  
"True," Kevyn replied, "the gravitic drives are burned out. However, the teraports are working fine."  
Understanding dawned. "So… we can teraport explosives into their ships?"  
"Exactly."  
"Well, what are you waiting for? Do it!"  
Ennesby asked "What about that other ship, the one attacking the Borg?"  
"Forget them. Remember Rule 29?"  
"Yes, captain. 'The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy, no more, no less.' But I figure since they were getting pounded, if we save their lives from these things, they may very well be grateful."  
"Grateful enough to reward us for saving them?"  
"Yes sir. After all, even if we save their lives now, we can still easily destroy them if we need to, given what we've seen about their weapons and shields."  
"Okay, Ennesby, you win. Protect them from our shots."

"Sir, we're being drawn towards the unknown vessel! They're using some sort of gravity bubble. We can't break free!" Worf cried out.  
Picard responded calmly "Well, I hope they have a good reason for this."  
Worf was incredulous "So we just sit and wait?" he sputtered angrily.  
"As you yourself have pointed out, we cannot escape. We do not wish to anger our apparent saviors, especially since they have demonstrated their clear technological superiority"  
Worf was opening his mouth for a retort when a blinding flash filled the viewscreen, which automatically dimmed to avoid retinal damage to those viewing it.

Terapedoes appeared without fanfare in the centers of several of the cubes, and then, with quite a lot of fanfare, detonated. The shields of the Cubes surrounding those that were torn apart by the blast were strong, but not nearly enough to stop the twenty-five-gigaton-plus detonations, and they too were torn apart.

Ennesby's carefully calculated spread of terapedoes wiped out the entire fleet with a minimal use of munitions, but he had a surprise coming.  
Thirty-five more Cubes dropped out of transwarp, shocking Ennesby. His shock did not hamper his intelligence, however, as he launched another precisely calculated volley of terapedoes that obliterated the armada.

As the light subsided from the bridge of the Enterprise, Worf managed to say "It appears they did have a purpose to that. They must have projected their shields to protect us, because our own would have fared no better than those of the Borg." He paused in surprise, double-checking his instruments before telling his captain about this new development.

"Well, sir, I got all of them, and our enemy's enemy is safe for the moment. Shall I hail them?"  
"Do that."  
"I believe that I should use radio signals as well as our standard FTL communicators, given their technological direction. They may have developed some other kind of FTL communicator, one which is incompatible with our own, or they may not even have one."  
"Good idea."  
"Thank you."

"What is it?"  
"We are being hailed…by radio."


	5. Interlude 1

Disclaimer: Schlock Mercenary and all related material is the property of Howard Taylor. Star Trek and all related material is the property of Paramount Pictures Inc. The plot, however, is mine.

Preliminary analysis of species 9713 initialized

Error…insufficient sensor data for complete analysis – Reason: Sensors blocked by unknown technology

Response- continue analysis using all available data

Physiology: Unknown/probable humanoid …cause of uncertainty-multiple variants detected-possibility exists of multispecies cooperation-all species unknown… All variants for which data exist demonstrate physical attributes significantly above Borg baseline.

Technology:

-Shields/armor: Species utilizes unknown gravitic shielding technology. Readings indicate greater protective capability than any known shielding technology. Initially transparent to subspace transportation – rectified rapidly. Armor unknown

-Power generation: Significantly higher than any previously known power generation methods. Scans indicate high-density fuel of unknown type.

-Weaponry: Species utilizes unknown weapons. Two unknown systems utilized in initial vessel engagement, extrapolation indicates multiple other unknown weapons. Initial weapon consists of focused gravity distortion streams, strength unknown, power consumption unknown. This technology cannot be duplicated at this time by the Borg. Secondary weapon utilizes unknown form of faster-than-light transportation to relocate explosive devices into enemy vessels. Explosive devices are significantly stronger (25-gigaton-range) than any known explosive of similar volume. This technology cannot be duplicated at this time by the Borg. Species also utilizes personal weaponry superior to all known forms of personal weapons. Detected weaponry consists of: handheld automatic weapons - probable rail/coil propulsion, gravity-contained plasma stream weapons, high-velocity explosive projectiles utilizing unknown shielding technology similar to vessel shields.

Final analysis/commands: Species 9713 utilizes numerous unknown technologies that would be beneficial to the Borg. Their defensive capabilities are a match for any single Borg vessel or any small ( 100 vessels) fleet of Borg vessels. Upper limit to defensive capabilities unknown. Orders: obtain additional sensor data. Do not engage or provoke into engagement unless threatened with total destruction.


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Schlock Mercenary and all related material is the property of Howard Taylor. Star Trek and all related material is the property of Paramount Pictures Inc. The plot, however, is mine.

"Why radio?" Picard murmured softly. "They should have discovered subspace communications, given what we've just seen. There wouldn't be any point to building a ship that powerful without faster-than-light capability." Then, more loudly, "We shouldn't keep them waiting, Mr. Worf. Onscreen."

"Sir, there's too much radio interference from the battle. It's an audio only message. Patching it through now."

A stream of gibberish erupted from the bridge speakers, and although everyone found it incomprehensible, there did seem to be a few words that seemed familiar, and the whole thing sounded as if the human vocal apparatus could have produced it without difficulty.

Responding before the question was asked, Data said, "The Universal translator is functional, Captain, however, there are no languages even remotely resembling this in its memory. Compiling a working vocabulary and proper translation algorithms will likely take some time and a much larger vocabulary sample."

Picard nodded and turned to face the screen, more out of habit than need, since the bridge audio pickups could transmit his voice no matter how he was facing. Raising his voice slightly, he addressed the unknown ship "Our translator does not have your language in its memory. Please send further data on your language so we may converse properly."

He doubted that the other ship would understand him, but he guessed that if they couldn't, that would also give them the idea. However, in the meantime…

""Mr. Worf, please send Starfleet a report detailing these unusual occurrences. Make sure they know that we are dealing with a very advanced race, and please request a First Contact Specialist to come at once."

"Aye, Sir."

Worf had already received the analysis of the anomaly, and he didn't bother editing or condensing the sensor logs of anything regarding the newcomer. Let them see everything, it might stir a sense of urgency. Speaking of urgency…

"Captain, I assume you want this to be Priority One?"

"You assume correctly, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir. Message sent."

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Touch-and-Go, the atmosphere was a little different.

"Hello, whoever you are. If I'm not mistaken, we just saved your lives. However, being mercenaries, we don't commit violence for free, and you owe us." Tagon stopped the transmission. He figured that they could negotiate for payment later, but making sure the opposition knew they were heavily outgunned was good tactics.

"Interesting word choice, sir. May I suggest a little more tact in the future?"

"Shut up, Ennesby. We outgun them, you said it yourself."

"I was just thinking they might have friends who we don't outgun, but…incoming signal. Should I play it, or is that included in 'shut up?'"

Tagon sighed. "No, Ennesby, go ahead."

A string of what sounded like incoherent babble emanated from the communication interface, and confusion lined Tagon's face. Ennesby's, on the other hand, lit up in understanding.

"What was Ithat/I, Ennesby?

"That wasn't any variant of Galstandard, but I did recognize it. In fact, that particular language originated on Earth, and a few words have even filtered into Galstandard West. It's called English."

"But you can understand it?"

"Yep! They're saying that they don't understand our language and need us to transmit linguistic data. I'll just send them a translation program, though it'll take a few minutes to complete, given the bandwidth restrictions we're dealing with. I'll do that now. Also, could you let me handle the talking? Diplomacy requires an advanced vocabulary, and yours isn't quite complete."

The insult made a slight whistling noise as it went over Tagon's head, but Kevyn chuckled. He quickly straightened and interjected, "I agree with Ennesby. He's the most qualified person on the ship. I also suggest we get Thurl up here to help."

Tagon grunted, resigned to the knowledge that he had no idea what was going on.

"Sir, incoming radio transmission. It appears to be a set of translation algorithms, preceded by the text 'so I don't have to do it all myself.'"

Data spoke up. "I have just analyzed the incoming code. I concur with the Lieutenant at the moment, though I will continue to analyze it as it comes in, so that we are not the victims of a viral assault."

"As it comes in, Mr. Data?"

"Aye, sir. Since the data transfer rate is restricted significantly, it will take much longer to receive the complete program. I estimate it will take at least approximately 5 minutes."

"Very well. Counselor, any unusual emotions coming from the alien vessel?"

"I sense confusion, curiosity, hostility, and…fear. The last two were not aimed specifically at us, and seemed much more subdued than the first two. Also, while about one third of them feel humanoid, there are a lot of nonhumanoids present, and some I couldn't read, only sense their presence. There may be more that I cannot sense at all."

Picard's reply was slow in coming, carefully thought out. "Interesting. It does appear that these beings, whoever they may be, can understand us, so perhaps we should talk to them, even if they cannot immediately respond."

Data spoke up, "I would advise against that, sir. While the translation program is incomplete, their initial greeting can be translated. Approximated, it means 'We are mercenaries, and we just saved your lives. You owe us.'"

Picard was amazed by their blatant admission. While everyone knew what mercenaries were intellectually, they were effectively nonexistent, since anyone wealthy enough to afford a ship that had any hope of defeating a Starfleet vessel and the crew to run that ship was so wealthy they wouldn't need to do so. The fact that it was illegal and punishable by life in prison also served as a deterrent. Picard quickly realized, however, that mentioning that particular fact to these people was likely an excellent way to commit suicide.

"I still wish to speak with them. As they pointed out, they did save us. Perhaps we can come to some sort of -"

Worf interrupted. "Federation warp signatures detected on long-range scans. Two War-Defiants, an Akira, and a Nebula-class. All are at maximum warp, headed in our direction on the same vector. They are too far away to hail, or to get more detailed readings. At their present speed and course, we will be able to do so in half an hour. Starfleet could not have assembled a fleet to meet this vessel so quickly."

Riker commented "Well, this gets livelier by the minute."

Data spoke up. "Translation program download complete. No viral assaults detected. I suggest caution with diplomatic proceedings."

"I know, Data. Worf, open a radio channel."

Picard was still getting used to the idea of using radio to communicate with an advanced species, but his disbelief was slowly being replaced by astonishment.

"Aye, sir. Channel open, audio only."

Picard reflexively straightened and adopted his "diplomatic" voice, honed by years of practice negotiating with recalcitrant, reluctant, and downright hostile aliens.

"I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of the starship IEnterprise/I, a vessel of the United Federation of Planets. Please identify yourselves and your intentions."

The response came back in perfectly enunciated English.

"This is the warship ITouch-and-Go/I, legal property of the licensed mercenary company Tagon's Toughs."

"To whom am I speaking?" queried Picard, "Your voice sounds different from the one that said the first message."

"That was the Captain. He's not a very good negotiator, as you could probably tell. I'm the one doing the negotiations now. My name is Ennesby, and I'm the current shipboard AI. Perhaps we should talk face to face. Radio is far too slow."

Picard was astonished at this being's bluntness, never mind the fact that these people considered Artificial Intelligences on board their ships normal. Data was unique within the Federation, and there were still many people who would protest against working alongside him, and knowing that there were cultures that thought nothing of it was amazing. Despite his astonishment, however, he remained unfailingly polite.

"Very well, um, En-es-bee" his tongue took the unfamiliar name slowly, to avoid insulting the being he was talking to by getting the name wrong "How do you wish to come aboard?"

Picard didn't really enjoy having potentially hostile strangers aboard his ship, but when said strangers had enough firepower to destroy the Enterprise at will, he figured it was best to put that feeling aside. Besides, he doubted that they would fire on the IEnterprise/I if some of their crew was aboard.

"We'll teraport on. We've managed to target your bridge. I hope you don't mind an honor guard."

Picard was about to ask what a teraport was when the link clicked off.

Seconds later, spots of light appeared on the bridge, and several figures appeared as the light quickly faded.

Picard had just enough time to wonder how they had transported when the shields were still up before Worf cried "Captain, get down!" and drew his phaser. The Klingon quickly aimed at the nearest being - only to find himself nose-to-barrel with what was unmistakably a very large, very dangerous gun, making an ominous humming noise that practically yelled 'do not mess with this.'


	7. Chapter 6

Two voices rang out simultaneously.  
"Sergeant, hold your fire!"  
"Worf!"  
Worf immediately snapped to attention, lowering his Type 2-A pistol. Sergeant Schlock was more reluctant, but did slowly lower his gun.

Picard took a moment to analyze the newcomers: The one who had given the order to hold fire was a tall, well-muscled blond man wearing an orange shirt, with a lightning bolt-shaped device floating over his shoulders. Picard didn't know what that meant, but he guessed that they were indicative of rank, similar to the pips Starfleet officers wore. There was a small maraca-shaped object floating next to him, the function of which Picard could only guess at. Flanking them were two of the largest humanoids Picard had ever seen, both wearing sky-blue shirts of the same design as the smaller man, but lacking any devices hovering over their shoulders. One was black, and wore something that resembled Geordi's VISOR, though that didn't necessarily indicate its function, while the other was white, and looked entirely normal for a human, save for his gigantic muscles. Behind them was a short, bald man wearing a dark blue shirt, small round objects by his head, and what appeared to be old-style Terran sunglasses. The being who had been threatening Worf appeared to be made of manure sporting a pair of eyeballs, but almost certainly wasn't.  
All this flashed through his head, the result of years of diplomatic experience, as he politely greeted the newcomers "Greetings, and welcome aboard the USS _Enterprise_. I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard." He watched the arrivals for signs of leadership, not wanting to commit a faux pas by accidentally addressing the wrong person.

To Picard's surprise, the small floating maraca spoke up. "I'm Ennesby, the AI you talked to earlier. This is Captain Kaff Tagon, and that's Commander Kevyn Andreyasn." It flicked its eyes toward the man with the orange shirt and the bald man, respectively.  
"A pleasure to meet you. I take it this is the honor guard you mentioned?" Picard queried.  
"Yes. That one's Shep," Ennesby indicated the black human, "That's Nick," indicating the white one, "and the pile of crap is Sergeant Schlock."  
Picard replied "This is my bridge crew. Commander Riker, Lieutenant Commander Data…"

Tagon and Kevyn had both taken advantage of the conversation to scan the bridge for any threats, and were having a short subvocalized conversation, transmitted by their armor.  
"Well, Kevyn, I don't see any major threats. They have those guns, but our armor ought to protect us from bullets if worst comes to worst."  
"You weren't looking right, sir. Those guns don't have to use bullets. I suspect they also incorporate some kind of directed energy weapon, but I've never seen anything like them before."  
Tagon briefly wondered how Kevyn knew that, but he quickly recalled that Kevyn's glasses let him see other spectra, so he could see stuff others didn't.  
Shep, who had been listening over his own armor's comm. system, chimed in, "I agree, sir. I dunno what they got, but they sure ain't like ours."  
"Okay, any suggestions?"  
"I would suggest that Ennesby try to get the designs, then we can send them back to the Touch-and-Go to fab up and test on our armor. In the meantime, let's try not to get into any shooting with these people."  
"Alright. That's the plan."  
The conversation snapped off, to be replaced by Ennesby's translation of the conversation going on

Seconds later, a chime sounded on the bridge, and Worf announced that Picard had an incoming message, Captain's eyes only.  
"I'll take this in my ready room, if you don't mind, sirs. Commander Riker, you have the bridge."  
"Yes, sir."  
Picard entered his ready room, and quickly went to his desk, and sure enough, there was a small light blinking, indicating an incoming call. Picard hit the button to acknowledge, and smiled as the Starfleet logo on the screen was replaced by the visage of Jason MacKenna, a friend from the Academy, whom Picard hadn't seen in years. However, Admiral MacKenna had more pressing matters on his mind than simply catching up.  
"Picard, we have a problem. Two days ago, a Romulan scout ship was destroyed. The last image it transmitted back was of a massive Borg fleet, coming this way. Starfleet believes that the Borg are planning a large-scale invasion of the Alpha Quadrant. Course analysis indicates that they plan to use this sector as an invasion corridor." Picard tried to say something, but the Admiral wasn't done. "The Romulans realized what a threat this would be, and alerted every group with any sort of armaments that could get here in time. We estimate we have another twelve hours, at most, before they arrive. You've already detected the ships with me, but there are going to be more. A lot more. The Roosevelt is an hour and a half away from your position, along with 6 other ships, the Romulans are sending four Warbirds, another Scimitar-class, and numerous smaller ships, and the Klingons have an armada of Birds-of-Prey en route. The Romulan ships should start arriving within two hours, and the Klingons three hours after. Several less influential warp-capable races are also sending ships, they'll be arriving at various times."  
Picard finally managed to get a word in. "Admiral. I know a Borg fleet was coming through here. We detected them almost an hour ago. We've already engaged them."  
That got MacKenna's attention.  
"And you survived?! But how? The report indicated at least forty-five ships! There's no way the Enterprise could have survived that encounter alone!"  
"Precisely my point. We didn't survive alone. We were out here investigating a temporal anomaly when the Borg came. That anomaly collapsed in the midst of the battle, leaving a ship behind."  
The admiral retorted "So instead of one ship fighting a Borg armada, you had two? I don't see how that helped you."  
"Were it a Federation ship, it wouldn't have. However, this ship is far beyond anything we have. As soon as the Borg detected it, they attacked it. I imagine they wanted the technology aboard. They didn't get it."  
"It fought back? Was it crewed?"  
"Yes. In fact, we have representatives of the ship onboard now. The ship's name is the Touch-and-Go. They're mercenaries."  
The admiral was horrified. "Mercenaries? But they're illegal!"  
"Considering that their single vessel possesses enough firepower to destroy the entire Borg invasion fleet, I wouldn't tell them that if I were you."  
"An excellent point. I'll see if we have any personnel with the appropriate training in the fleet. I'll see you soon, Jean-Luc."  
"Yes. Perhaps once we get this settled, we can catch up."  
"I would enjoy that."  
The communication terminated, and Picard got up to inform the crew and guests of this new development.


End file.
